L. Alvis Vandergriff v. First Federal Savings and Loan Association Breckenridge

Respondent First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Breckenridge, Texas filed this suit in district court seeking to set aside an order of the petitioner Savings and Loan Commission of Texas which approved the application of Graham Savings and Loan Association to open a branch office in Breckenridge. In its first amended original petition, First Federal alleged two basic causes of action: one being an administrative appeal of the order as contemplated by statute; and the other being an equitable action to set aside the Commission's order on the grounds that it was obtained by the extrinsic fraud of Graham Savings and Loan Association. The trial court dismissed the case for want of jurisdiction because First Federal had not filed a motion for rehearing before the Commission, which was a jurisdictional prerequisite to filing suit in district court. Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 6252-13a §§ 16(c), 16(e). The court of civil appeals reversed and remanded the case to the trial court. 576 S.W.2d 904. We reverse the judgment of the court of civil appeals and affirm that of the trial court. The court of civil appeals correctly held: (1) First Federal's amended petition alleged two separate causes of action, one in the nature of an administrative appeal and the other in the nature of an equitable action. (2) The trial court properly dismissed the administrative appeal cause of action because no motion for rehearing was filed before the Commission and such motion is by statute a jurisdictional prerequisite for an administrative appeal. (3) The facts alleged in support of the equitable action did not constitute extrinsic fraud as that term is defined in Alexander v. Hagedorn, 148 Tex. 565, 226 S.W.2d 996 (1950).